Jende and Neni have come to New York from Camaroon. They are looking for a better life in the United States and want to live out the American dream. They are overjoyed when Jende gets a job as a chauffeur for the extremely wealthy Edwards family; they use the money from that and Neni’s job as a home health aide to put money aside every week to save for Neni’s pharmacy school and also to send back home to relatives in Camaroon. The couple and their young son squeeze into a one bedroom apartment in Harlem and begin to think that they are well on there way to achieving what they have come to America to do. But alas, it is 2008 and the financial crisis along with the state of the Edwards’s marriage contribute to Jende losing his job and all of their dreams going up in ashes. Their journey to American citizenship encounters one obstacle after another and ultimately forces the family to make agonizing decisions for the sake of their son and new born baby. The novel paints a vivid and compelling picture of the struggles that immigrants face when coming to this country.
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